Verizon Wireless charges you to call your own voicemail

I know it's been a while since I've posted here, and there is a very good reason for that which I will explain soon. It has to do with the fact that I have an awesome new job that's taking up most of my time.

However, knowing the history of AMERICAblog and Verizon, I thought I might share this tidbit I just discovered.

Did you know that when you call your Verizon voicemail, you get charged against your minutes? Even though it's technically "in" because it's a Verizon number calling a Verizon number, you get charged for the minutes as if you were calling an out-of-network number.

I just spent about an hour on the line with Verizon dealing with unrelated billing issues, and in the course of that conversation, I noticed the voicemail charges. The woman assisting me - who was ridiculously helpful, btw - said they have received many complaints about this voicemail thing, but she doesn't know what - if anything - is being done about it.

Seems awfully shady to me. It's hard to feel sorry for companies complaining about customers using too much bandwidth and the need to charge more when they're sneaking fees in the backdoor.